Following the great success of the first edition in 2024, we are delighted to organize a second Summer School on Soft Matter: From Fundamentals to Sensory Perception, which will take place at the beautifully located Institut d’Études Scientifiques de Cargèse in Corsica.

The summer school will take place this year, from July 20th to August 1st, 2026

This second edition will offer a strong foundation in soft matter fundamentals - with at least half of the lectures dedicated to core topics such as polymers, colloids, gels, and techniques such as rheology, tribology, and scattering - while expanding into how the physical properties of soft materials influence sensory experiences like texture and touch.

This new focus bridges soft matter physics with fields such as biophysics and active matter, and extends into the rheological and tribological physics of sensory-rich processes - from how creams spread on the skin to how food deforms, fractures, and interacts with the tongue during eating. These connections open up exciting perspectives on how organisms sense and respond to material properties through touch, texture, and mechanical feedback.

List of lecturers & registration: Summer school on Soft Matter Systems: from fundamentals to Sensory Perception - Sciencesconf.org

Looking forward to seeing you in Cargèse,

Thibaut Divoux, Emanuela Del Gado, Laurence Ramos & Gareth H. McKinley